UT financial aid-grants and scholarships

missvelociraptor

ok, so I received my financial aid package and it was downright awful, even though my FAFSA EFC came out to be $0. I only got 1000 in grants (like everyone gets) and zero need based scholarships, or any scholarships for that matter. Would I be able to make financial aid give me a better package, or is all hope lost?

I went and visited the FA office back about a month ago and this very nice & helpful lady (I don't want to post her name on the internet...but considering there is only a few people who work there it probably isn't hard to figure out who I am talking about) that I spoke with told me that they do not give out the "need-based" scholarships and grants until June. A couple of other people have also spoken to this particular lady and found her to be very helpful, too. My guess (and this is only a guess) is that they wait to see who is definately coming to UT (according to the admissions office we have to sign some sort of commitment or intent letter in June) before they start giving these out. Also, I think I read somewhere on the website that like 80% of their scholarships and grants are need based.

Now I am putting together multiple pieces of information from different sources at UT Law (admissions office, FA office, website, etc.) so take what I am saying with a grain of salt...but I wouldn't freak out yet.

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ormachea

Plus, what I heard from them seems to be that they try to use their funds more to keep the overall cost of attending down rather than hand out too many scholarships. The UT website has the average debt figure (for those who take out loans) to be $65k--which seems to say they expect most to take out all the stafford loans to pay for the school.

I just got home to find an aid letter from UT. Essentially, they want me to 'active my award' by 5/12/05 (which I assume also means selecting lenders, verifying amounts, etc., etc., etc.). How does that track with scholarships in June? Is that just bonus money outside of the student budget or what?

I just got home to find an aid letter from UT. Essentially, they want me to 'active my award' by 5/12/05 (which I assume also means selecting lenders, verifying amounts, etc., etc., etc.). How does that track with scholarships in June? Is that just bonus money outside of the student budget or what?

This is a good point. It would be sweet to have some surprise extra funds, but you would think that you would get any aid that was coming before signing up for loans. Has any UT person been informed of need based aid? If people have only heard about scholarships, than it could make sense.

I was told by one of the women in the financial aid office in person that they did not award the "need-based" scholarships until June. The scholarships that have been given out so far have been merit-based. Now I am not sure how many need-based scholarships are given out and I'm not sure what qualifications must be met...